At a press event in Sydney today, local XBox managing director Alan Bowman announced that the XBox Live Starter Pack would go on sale in Australia in October at a recommended retail price of AU$99.95.
The XBox Live service, which launched in Europe today and in the US last November, allows for broadband-connected XBox consoles to play selected games against players worldwide. The starter pack comes with the necessary software, a headset for voice communication and a twelve month subscription to the XBox Live service. Bowman stated that ongoing subscription pricing and models had not yet been set, but that Australian gamers who had already purchased US XBox Live kits would be able to transfer subscriptions over once the service had launched.
Microsoft announced it has begun an initial testing phase with broadband ISPs which will run through until August; an existing broadband account is necessary for XBox Live play, and is not included in the RRP of the starter pack. Following that, a limited beta test will run in September before the official October launch. Details on how gamers could join the beta test were not immediately available.
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